564. The Brave Little Toaster (1987)

Starring: Jon Lovitz, Timothy Stack, Timothy E. Day

Director: Jerry Rees

Running Time: 90 mins

The Brave Little Toaster is an American film about five plucky household appliances who go on a magical adventure to be finally reunited with their master, however they find themselves in the face of some very tough problems.

Well, this film works well enough on its intended level, in being a pretty entertaining kids’ movie, and although it is, on the face of things, very simplistic and cheesy, it’s in fact one of the darkest kids’ films I’ve ever seen.

There’s a lot of comparison between this and Toy Story 3, and I would certainly agree with that. The entire concept appears to have been significant inspiration to the Toy Story people, while a majority of the plot points and themes can be seen in the Pixar franchise, so seeing as that’s been so applauded for its depth as well as fun, it’s evident that this film is on about the same level.

But even further, like the much darker atmosphere of Toy Story 3, this film is both simply entertaining and oddly thrilling. Although it is a fun kids’ story for the majority of the film, it finishes with what is a hugely exciting and frightening finale, which, although seeming too dark and scary for kids, works on about the same level as Toy Story 3, meaning it’s able to hit both children and adults alike.

However, we’re not going to take this too seriously, after all, it’s a film about a toaster. Now, although it is quite original, I think that personifying household appliances is actually quite dull, and as you can see throughout the film, an excuse to make a sort of health and safety public information film, while also encourage kids to do their chores and work, which kind of ruins the fun of it.

But even so, it’s still a hugely funny, largely pretty enjoyable story that doesn’t end up being too predictable, nor too dull, so that’s why it gets a 7.1.